How to train your excavator operators

The Search For Talent

Infrastructure spending is driving Australia’s economy post-Covid-19, with $218 Billion of projects to be delivered in the next 5 years. A study from the independent advisory group Infrastructure Australia believes that project managers will struggle to recruit skilled workers for “one in three industry jobs by 2023, the equivalent of 105,000 positions”.

Plant operators play a critical role in large infrastructure; they control the machines that drive productivity on these significant projects. Being one of the most important and also hard-to-source skilled workers, construction firms are facing the question “how do we train excavator operators?"

How Much Difference Does a Quality Operator Make?

There are many factors, including safety, behavior, etc, but we will focus on productivity. The definition of productivity is the annual output/capacity of input. Infrastructure projects are complex and have many variables, no two work areas are the same. This makes it extremely difficult to measure two operator outputs against each other and determine what the benchmark is. As a result, it is hard to see and understand productivity impacts.

Human Factors Engineering has found that accounting for individual differences during operator selection can increase equipment productivity output by up to 14 percent.

How to Assess and Improve Operator Quality?  

If you ask people within the construction industry about what makes a good operator, some of the most common answers are , “it’s about how quick they are at getting the job done”, “hours on the seat”, or “ability to not hit any services and minimise rework’. Whilst these are all factors that define a good operator, how can we actually systematically assess operator performance, to understand how to train an operator?

Criteria 1 - Operator Behaviour

• Punctuality - Turns up on time
• Communication Skills - Communicates well with overall site operations
• Team Player - Cohesive team player

Criteria 2 - Safety

• Risk Identification - identification and action around potential risks
• Awareness of surroundings - Alert to site conditions and surrounding operations
• Housekeeping - Best practice methodology in a safe and clean manner

Criteria 3 - Expertise

• Experience - Ability to use the plant to maximum ability
• Construction Knowledge - Understanding and approach to work activities and materials
• Productivity - Achievement against site-specific benchmarks

The weighting of each assessment criteria comes down to the organisation assessing the operator and can be tailored. When the performance of operators is measured over time, then better decisions can be made around development training required, better allocation of specific tasks, and smarter work practices.

Understanding the above criteria allows you to answer the question "how do we train excavator operators".  The key is to assess the operator on these metrics, and focus on ways to train them accordingly.

Nomadhub is a construction operations software that keeps operators accountable, and ensures they complete their machine pre-starts on time. Operators look after the machines every time the key is turned, minimising downtime and turning maintenance from reactive to proactive.

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